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Journal
of
Counidmg
Psychology
1888,
Vol.
15,
Ko.
6,
«2-496
Sixteen
Personality
Factor
Questionnaire
Scores
and
Success
in
Counseling
EDWIN
W.
McCLAIN
University
of
Tennessee
The
Sixteen
Personality
Factor
Questionnaire
(16 PF)
was
administered
to 91 men and 46
women high
school
counselors
in 5
National
Defense
Education
Act
institutes.
Supervisor
ratings
in
counseling
practicum
were
correlated
with
raw
scores
on the 16 PF. The
correlation
coefficients were
used
as
weights
for
standard
scores
on the 16 PF in
separate
specification
equations
for men and
women
to
differentiate
various
levels
of
counseling
competence.
Application
of the
specification
equation
differentiated
levels
of
competence
in 4 out of 6
tests.
Scores
of the
most
successful
men
counselors
tended
to
reflect
masculine
characteristics,
and
scores
of the
most
successful women tended
to
reflect feminine
characteristics.
Although
a
large number
of
studies
that
have tried
to find
measures
of
personality
related
to
success
in
counseling have been
disappointing,
an
increasing number
of in-
vestigations have been able
to find
meas-
urable
characteristics associated with
counselor
effectiveness. Hill
and
Green
(1960)
and
Carkhuff
(1966) have pub-
lished
surveys
of
this
research. These stud-
ies
have ranged
from
the use of a
single
dimension
of
personality
to
whole
batteries
of
instruments.
In
general,
the
reports
point
to the
complexity
of the
problem
and
stress
the
need
for
more research
that
can
help educators
and
employers
of
counselors
identify
those
candidates
who are
likely
to
be
successful.
This study
is
based
on the
assumption
that
counselor
effectiveness
is the
product
of
many components
of the
counselor's
personality operating
at the
same time
in
his
interactions with
the
counselee,
but it
recognizes
that
the use of
multiple instru-
ments
for
measuring these components
is
generally
impractical.
It is
based
on the
further
assumption
that
although there
may be
certain measurable characteristics
associated with success,
a
given counselor
need
not
score high
on all of
them.
He may
be
low on
particular ones
but
compensate
for
these
deficiencies
by
possessing other
relevant
characteristics
to a
high degree.
These assumptions point
to the
need
for a
reasonably
simple device
for
combining
scores—some
specification
equation—that
can
help differentiate
the
successful
from
the
unsuccessful.
Previous investigations have
rarely
con-
sidered
sex
differences
in
their
efforts
to
relate
measures
of
personality
to
coun-
seling
effectiveness.
Counselors confront
counselees
as
whole
persons,
including their
masculinity
or
femininity.
It
follows
that
personal
characteristics necessary
for
suc-
cess
for men and
women
may not be the
same.
This report
is
offered
as a
demonstration
that
a
single standardized personality
test
can be
useful
in
identifying
successful
and
unsuccessful
counselors
and
that
the
meas-
urable
characteristics necessary
for
success
are
different
for men and
women.
METHOD
Subjects
The
Ss
for
this
study were
137
experienced high
school counselors enrolled
in five
National
Defense
Education
Act
guidance
institutes
at The
Univer-
sity
of
Tennessee—four
summer
institutes
and one
year-long
institute.
There
were
91 men and 46
women.
Their
ages
ranged
25-52;
their
education
averaged
about
1
year
of
graduate
study.
Most
of
them
were employed
in
high
schools
in the
Southeast,
but
others
were from
all
areas
of the
United
States.
Instrumentation
The
Sixteen
Personality
Factor
Questionnaire
(16
PF)
was
chosen
as the
instrument
for
this
492
